Goodreads Monday – Page 11 – The Bookish Mutant

Goodreads Monday (9/23/19)-Crown of Coral and Pearl

Posted on September 23, 2019 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Would you look at that! I didn’t forget Goodreads Monday this week! 😀

Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme started by Lauren’s Page Turners ; all you need to do to participate is to pick a book from your Goodreads TBR, and tell everyone why you want to read it.

Without further ado, let’s begin!

GOODREADS MONDAY (9/23/19)-CROWN OF CORAL AND PEARL by Mara Rutherford

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Blurb from Goodreads:

For generations, the princes of Ilara have married the most beautiful maidens from the ocean village of Varenia. But though every girl longs to be chosen as the next princess, the cost of becoming royalty is higher than any of them could ever imagine…

Nor once dreamed of seeing the wondrous wealth and beauty of Ilara, the kingdom that’s ruled her village for as long as anyone can remember. But when a childhood accident left her with a permanent scar, it became clear that her identical twin sister, Zadie, would likely be chosen to marry the Crown Prince—while Nor remained behind, unable to ever set foot on land.

Then Zadie is gravely injured, and Nor is sent to Ilara in her place. To Nor’s dismay, her future husband, Prince Ceren, is as forbidding and cold as his home—a castle carved into a mountain and devoid of sunlight. And as she grows closer to Ceren’s brother, the charming Prince Talin, Nor uncovers startling truths about a failing royal bloodline, a murdered queen… and a plot to destroy the home she was once so eager to leave.

In order to save her people, Nor must learn to negotiate the treacherous protocols of a court where lies reign and obsession rules. But discovering her own formidable strength may be the one move that costs her everything: the crown, Varenia and Zadie.

So why do I want to read this?

Simple. I’m desperate for a good mermaid book.

Okay, maybe it’s not exactly a mermaid book, but it seems like a good execution of the concept of undersea kingdoms. If all goes well, it sounds like Crown of Coral and Pearl has a lot of political intrigue and some interesting world building. I’m not expecting another Smoke Thieves, but here’s hoping that we’ll get *something* as good as that.

And let me elaborate on the whole “desperate to read a mermaid book” thing. I haven’t read a book in years that has executed the concept of mermen well. Case in point: Jennifer Donnelly’s Deep Blue. Avoid this one at all costs; the mermaids were uncreatively designed, as was the kingdom. And, there was the unrealistic dialogue and the onslaught of awful puns that the author seemed to think that we were going to take seriously. Just stoooopppp. Ally Condie’s Atlantia has a similar plot to Crown of Coral and Pearl, but it fell into a nearly identical trap: corny dialogue, cardboard characters, etc. So yeah, I really need a good mermaid book. Soon. Right now. 🅱LEASE?

Crown of Coral and Pearl came out a little under a month ago, so here’s hoping I can find it and read it soon! 🧜‍♀️

Thank you so much for reading! Have a great rest of your day, and take care of yourselves! I’ll be back tomorrow for this week’s Book Review Tuesday, and I’ve also been (discreetly) tagged in my VERY FIRST BOOK TAG…so I’ll be getting to that soon as well! (Thanks A Little Haze Book Blog !)

Goodreads Monday (9/9/19)-Loveless

Posted on September 9, 2019September 23, 2019 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Hey, everyone! Happy(ish) Monday! 🙂

Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme created by Lauren’s Page Turners . It’s pretty simple–just pick a book from your Want to Read list on Goodreads, and explain why you want to read it.

Here we go…enjoy this week’s Goodreads Monday!

GOODREADS MONDAY (9/9/19)-LOVELESS by Alice Oseman

Blurb from Goodreads:

Georgia feels loveless – in the romantic sense, anyway. She’s eighteen, never been in a relationship, or even had a crush on a single person in her whole life. She thinks she’s an anomaly, people call her weird, and she feels a little broken. But she still adores romance – weddings, fan fiction, and happily ever afters. She knows she’ll find her person one day … right?

After a disastrous summer, Georgia is now at university, hundreds of miles from home. She is more determined than ever to find love – and her annoying roommate, Rooney, is a bit of a love expert, so perhaps she can help.

But maybe Georgia just doesn’t feel that way about guys. Or girls. Or anyone at all. Maybe that’s okay. Maybe she can find happiness without falling in love. And maybe Rooney is a little more loveless than she first appears.

LOVELESS is a journey of identity, self-acceptance, and finding out how many different types of love there really are. And that no one is really loveless after all.

So why do I want to read this?

As far as YA goes, the 2010’s have been a great year for LGBTQ+ books. I’ve seen an increase in gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, and other queer protagonists in such literature, which I am OVER THE MOON HAPPY ABOUT. I mean, it’s about time for this kind of thing. But one sexual orientation that I haven’t seen often in YA literature–and just literature in general–is representation of asexual and/or aromantic people. This book seems like it’s going to be a wonderful awakening for those who don’t know about these orientations, with Georgia, as far as I know, being aro-ace.

Beyond that, the plot of self-exploration without a love interest always hooks me. It seems that in almost every book that involves a female protagonist trying to discover who she is, there’s at least a 90% that there’s gonna be a love interest. And while that’s cute sometimes, it’s reeeeeally starting to get on my nerves. I mean, seriously, women can discover themselves ALL. BY. THEMSELVES. WE DON’T NEED ANYBODY ELSE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. So I’m glad to see a minor subversion of this trope.

Loveless is scheduled for release in spring of next year, so I’m eagerly awaiting this one! 🙂

Thank you so much for reading! Have a wonderful rest of your day! Take care of yourselves, and keep on reading!

Books, Goodreads Monday

Goodreads Monday (9/2/19)-Starswept

Posted on September 2, 2019September 23, 2019 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Oooh, a new thing! Surprise, surprise!

Goodreads Monday is a fun, weekly meme created by Lauren’s Page Turners . I learned about it through A Little Haze Book Blog , so thank you to both of you! (Wonderful blogs, by the way, please check them both out)

It’s pretty simple: if you want to do this as well, just go through your Goodreads TBR list, pick a book, and explain why you want to read it. I figured it’d be a fun thing to try out, and a chance to…y’know…make the book-related portion of my blog more than just reviews. 😉

Without further ado, madelinetodd.com’s first Goodreads Monday!

GOODREADS MONDAY (9/2/19)–STARSWEPT by Mary Fan

Blurb from Goodreads:

Some melodies reach across the stars.

In 2157, the Adryil—an advanced race of telepathic humanoids—contacted Earth. A century later, 15-year-old violist Iris Lei considers herself lucky to attend Papilio, a prestigious performing arts school powered by their technology. Born penniless, Iris’s one shot at a better life is to attract an Adryil patron. But only the best get hired, and competition is fierce.

A sudden encounter with an Adryil boy upends her world. Iris longs to learn about him and his faraway realm, but after the authorities arrest him for trespassing, the only evidence she has of his existence is the mysterious alien device he slipped to her.

When she starts hearing his voice in her head, she wonders if her world of backstabbing artists and pressure for perfection is driving her insane. Then, she discovers that her visions of him are real—by way of telepathy—and soon finds herself lost in the kind of impossible love she depicts in her music.

But even as their bond deepens, Iris realizes that he’s hiding something from her—and it’s dangerous. Her quest for answers leads her past her sheltered world to a strange planet lightyears away, where she uncovers secrets about Earth’s alien allies that shatter everything she knows.

So why do I want to read this?

Those who know me fairly well know that I’m eternally itching for a good sci-fi novel. At this point, I’ve had to let go of the fact that a good 80% of sci-fi aliens in YA are almost completely humanoid, so I’m willing to see if the execution of the Adryil is good or not. Hopefully the factor of their telepathy will make it better; that, at least, seems somewhat original.

What I’m really intrigued about, however, is the music aspect of this story. As both a sci-fi and music nerd, I’m excited to see both of these components woven together. It seems like it’ll be an atmospheric novel full of flowery prose, but you never know. Anyway, I haven’t been able to get my hands on it (I almost bought in on my Kindle a few months back, but along with everything else I had, it ended up being a bit too expensive with the others), I look forward to reading Starswept. 😉

Thank you so much for reading! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and stay tuned for another Book Review Tuesday tomorrow!